Rate My Professor Thomas Wayment

Thomas Wayment is Professor and Section Head of Classical Studies in the Department of Comparative Arts and Letters at Brigham Young University. Previously a professor of Ancient Scripture in the Department of Religious Education from 2000 to 2018, he holds a PhD in New Testament studies from Claremont Graduate University and a BA in Classics from the University of California, Riverside. Wayment joined the BYU faculty of Religious Education in June 2000 following completion of his doctorate and transferred to the faculty of Comparative Arts and Letters in 2018. He served as Publications Director of the BYU Religious Studies Center from 2013 to 2018. His research interests center on Christian literary papyri, Oxyrhynchus papyri, and the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Wayment has conducted studies on New Testament apocrypha and cataloged unpublished Coptic New Testament fragments at Brigham Young University. He has earned recognition as one of the most capable Latter-day Saint scholars of the New Testament.

Wayment has produced an extensive body of scholarly work including books, edited volumes, and articles. Prominent publications feature The New Testament: A Translation for Latter-day Saints (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2019), From Persecutor to Apostle: A Biography of Paul (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2006), and The Text of the New Testament Apocrypha (140-400): Translation, Introduction, and Commentary (BYU Press, 2005). He edited Celebrating Easter, The Sermon on the Mount in Latter-day Scripture, and With Healing in His Wings, all published by the Religious Studies Center. Selected articles include "Latter-day Saint Engagement with Paul: Status Quaestionis in Understanding Covenants and Communities," "False Gospels: An Approach to Studying the New Testament Apocrypha," "Quest for Origins: The Joseph Smith Translation and Latin Version of the New Testament," and contributions to Religious Educator on topics such as New Testament variants in the Sermon on the Mount, the Joseph Smith Translation and italicized words in the King James Version, and discussions of difficult topics including race, priesthood, plural marriage, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Wayment received the Phi Kappa Phi Distinguished Lecturer award in 2015 and the Richard Lloyd Anderson Research Award from Religious Education in 2013. He has presented at symposia including the BYU Church History Symposium and engaged in public discussions on biblical translation.